Single mom moonlighted as stripper

Paige’s disappearance has triggered exhaustive searches involving hundreds of volunteers who methodically covered hundreds of square miles of sage brush-covered territory on the western slope. Divers searched the bottom of the Gunnison river and checked a sewage plant for her body.

Paige’s new red Ford Focus was found burning in a field two days after her disappearance. Someone had lit it on fire, likely to destroy evidence. Several items including her checks and identification from her purse were discovered along Highway 50 about 15 miles south of Grand Junction.

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Since her disappearance allegations brought by CBS’ 48 Hours that tens of thousands of dollars Paige stashed in her home had been discovered by investigators, then disappeared.

Birgfeld believes this mystery along with missteps in the investigation could make it difficult to prosecute the case when enough evidence is found to bring charges.

He has asked that the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office to turn the investigation over to federal or state authorities who are not tainted by corruption allegations.

He has also sought an independent investigation of the missing funds he believes his daughter hid in a false drawer in a vanity cabinet in her bathroom.

Sheriff Stan Hilkey has denied that deputies discovered anything more than $50 from the house and refuses to relinquish control of the investigation.

A spokesman from his office referred comment to Investigator Lisa Norcross, who could not be reached for comment on Friday.

Previously, Hilkey said in a statement that it was unfortunate that Birgfeld decided to make unfounded allegations.

“However, it does not dissuade this office from its commitment or desire to successfully resolve the Paige Birgfeld case, nor will his complaints ever cause any lapse in professional ethics or integrity by any member of this agency.”

Birgfeld has other concerns about the investigation.

He said there are a number of possible suspects in the case with monetary as well as deviant sexual motivations.

Kirk Mitchell is a general assignment reporter at The Denver Post who focuses on criminal justice stories. He began working at the newspaper in 1998, after writing for newspapers in Mesa, Ariz., and Twin Falls, Idaho, and The Associated Press in Salt Lake City. Mitchell first started writing the Cold Case blog in Fall 2007, in part because Colorado has more than 1,400 unsolved homicides.